The Aleppo Project will be launching a participatory planning system for Aleppo city works on the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) platform to promote community engagement in the decision-making process of the postwar reconstruction of Aleppo. The system will develop maps that reflect the local stakeholders’ needs and agendas. The project will adopt a mixed methodology to develop a creative process of decision-making by linking technologies of Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) with spatial modeling (GIS). This participatory process will produce guidelines and strategies for the reconstruction of postwar Aleppo incorporating local perspectives. Where multiple criteria—e.g. social, economic, urban—will be involved, the project will follow a structured and transparent decision-making process. The main questions which the project will investigate are:

• Which criteria and indicators should be included in the participatory planning system of Aleppo?
• What methods will the participatory planning system develop and use to assess the relative importance of all criteria?

As an integral component of its participatory decision-making process, the project will establish a wide network of contacts with different community categories to crowdsource knowledge of the city. The project will culminate in a toolkit of data, guidelines, and strategies expected to maximize the efficiency of the urban reconstruction of postwar Aleppo.

This tool will address the complex multi-criteria problems of Aleppo’s postwar reconstruction process by combining a top-down and bottom-up approach. To achieve this, two workshops will be held in Aleppo, one with local consultants and experts and the other with policymakers including municipality and government representatives. Such an approach will lead to the empowerment of local stakeholders and different community categories to achieve their needs and aspirations.